The ICE Council at its meeting on Tuesday 17 April agreed that in addition to the usual Council elections, proposed changes to our Royal Charter, By-laws and Regulations be put to ICE members in the ballot this year. It is believed the changes will make the Institution more agile, more forward looking and better able to meet the needs of society, industry and its members.

The ICE Council believes that this is not a radical change to the way ICE is governed, rather, a sensible proposal to improve the way that the Institution is managed.

The new structure would see a smaller Trustee Board of 12 becoming responsible for the Institution’s strategic decision making. The ICE’s membership will retain control and direction of the Institution and there will be no change to the way in which the President and Vice Presidents are currently elected. A new Council would then act in an advisory capacity to the Trustee Board, meet regularly and play an important role as a body to which the Trustee Board can turn for advice.

The new Council will continue to be elected by the membership, in exactly the same way as it is now. They will select three from their number to serve on the Trustee Board and, ultimately will have the authority to remove trustees should the Council deem that to be in the best interests of the Institution.

The new Council would also focus on wider professional and societal issues using their expertise to propose solutions.

These changes have been agreed by the ICE Council members who recognise the need for an efficient approach to governance. This move follows the Charity Governance Code guidance which set out best practice for charities of our size.

Moving to the proposed new governance structure would have no impact on any member’s professional qualifications or on the Institution’s status at large.

Alongside these changes, members will also be asked to vote on further resolutions concerning the streamlining of ICE’s By-laws and the Engineering Council’s decision to mandate the recording and submission of CPD records from all professionally qualified members to Professional Engineering Institutions.

Full details of the resolutions will be contained in the voting papers that members eligible to vote will receive when the ballot opens on 1 June 2018.